Reuters Institute reveals: Who and why pays for digital news?

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published a 2013 Digital News Report, that sheds light on the ways readers consume digital news content worldwide. The report, extremely valuable for all digital news publishers, describes in detail directions in which the entire industry is developing.

It shows that digital consumers now seem more willing to pay for news, and use tablets and smartphones to consume them. Also the erection of paywalls, combined subscriptions, and app-based purchases is constantly growing. The highest rates of paying for digital news are now seen in Brazil, Italy, Spain, Japan, and France & we can expect a significant jump in the percentage of users paying for digital news in the coming months.

Types of digital payment by country

Downloading & using app or making an in-app purchase seems to be a prevailing one-off payment type in all countries. One-third of the readers who paid for the news in France, Spain, and Italy, made an app purchase. The figures were slightly lower in the US, UK, and Denmark, perhaps because a number of news publishers have moved to making apps an ongoing subscription payment or part of a print/subscription bundle.